Article: What's In A Name?

Hi there, and welcome to the Negative Resistance blog! I've been toying with the idea of creating a blog for some time now. Other than deliberating over what to write about within the sphere of gaming, I also found myself overly concerned with what to name my blog. This is the short story of how the name “Negative Resistance” came into existence!

First a bit of background for you. I consider myself very fortunate to have grown up in the 16-bit era. It really was a fantastic time for gaming, where everything was so full of energy and had that hint of magic surrounding it. Back then you picked a side in the Sega vs. Nintendo war and you stuck to it! You spent your school breaks and evenings arguing with your friends about what was best; Sonic vs. Mario; Mode 7 vs. Burst Processing; Mortal Kombat blood vs. Street Fighter 2 ports - the list was endless! Of course both systems had their merits but I never knew anyone back in the day that owned both consoles at the same time. That’s very unlike today where it’s quite commonplace to have a PS3 or Xbox in one room and a Wii in another.

This short bout of reminiscing brings me back to the point of this blog entry. I vehemently despised Nintendo back in the day. I was Sega through and through. I had Sonic pyjamas, Alex Kidd slippers and, more importantly, I had a Mega Drive! I simply couldn't concede that the likes of Mario Kart et al on the SNES were quite obviously fantastic games and well worthy of my attention. I would go around to friends’ houses and play these games just so that I had more ammunition for the school playground the next day. You could say that I put up a lot of resistance to anything that came out of Kyoto!



Today is a completely different story however. While I still pine for Sega's golden age, I’m also busy acquiring the best that Nintendo had to offer on all of its platforms. I currently have a SNES, N64, GameCube, DS and Wii all sitting proudly in my console collection. This brings everything nicely full circle because you could say that by actively seeking out and collecting Nintendo games I now have... negative resistance!

 So there you have it. A blog title that I'm happy with and my first article to boot!


Over the coming weeks I intend to muse on all sorts of things; the demise of Sega; how life was better when Sonic and Mario hated each other; how I avoided PlayStations until 2010; how smartphone gaming changed my world, and much more! There will also be the odd retro review thrown in for good measure as well so please stay tuned.

And remember, when it comes to retro gaming: resistance is futile!